BRUSSELS — Four times this month, proclaimed followers of the Islamic State have sowed fear in major European cities — in London; twice in Paris; and, on Tuesday night, in Brussels.

The extremist group has taken responsibility for only one of the attacks — a murderous rampage in London on June 3 — but Belgian officials on Wednesday said that a failed bombing at Central Station on Tuesday night underscored the continuing security threat in Europe, as the Islamic State is under siege in Iraq and Syria.

The 36-year-old suspect — identified only as Oussama Z. — entered the station at 8:39 p.m. on Tuesday, went downstairs from the main ticket hall and began shouting near a group of passengers, according to Eric Van der Sijpt, a spokesman for the federal prosecutor’s office.

The suspect was carrying a suitcase bomb that contained nails and gas bottles, Mr. Van der Sijpt said, and set off a partial and relatively harmless explosion.

He then left the bag behind while he went in pursuit of a train official, Mr. Van der Sijpt said, and it “exploded a second time, more violently.”

After the second explosion, the man went back upstairs, approached a soldier and shouted “God is great” in Arabic. The soldier opened fire, killing him. Initial reports that the man might have been wearing an explosive belt proved to be unfounded. No injuries were reported.

The authorities said that the suspect, a Moroccan citizen, had assembled the bomb at his home in the working-class Molenbeek section of Brussels.

While a more serious attack was averted — the authorities praised the soldier for his quick response — it once again shined a spotlight on Belgium, a country that has been used as a base by many jihadists. Some developed extremist views in Belgium and then went to Syria and Iraq before returning.

Militants based in Brussels have been linked to the deadly attacks in and around Paris in November 2015, and the bombings at Brussels Airport and a subway station in March 2016. More than 160 people died in those attacks, for which the Islamic State claimed responsibility.

In addition, two of the three men who carried out the attack on and around London Bridge in June were Moroccan.

About 100,000 people with Moroccan citizenship live in Belgium, which has a population of 11 million. Moroccan-Belgians are the country’s largest minority group with roots outside the European Union.

Many Moroccan men were recruited in the 1960s to work in Belgium’s mines and factories on temporary contracts but stayed on, eventually joined by their families. Many then became Belgian citizens, and it is their children or grandchildren — albeit only a tiny fraction of the population — who have sometimes been drawn to jihadist ideology.

Often, according to experts who have studied the phenomenon, future militants start with petty crime and then search for an identity as a way to frame their illicit activity, or to atone for past misdeeds.

Oussama Z., born in 1981, had lived for several years in Molenbeek, which was also the home of some of those connected to other attacks in the city and in Paris.

“He probably made the bomb there,” the prosecutor’s office said after Oussama Z.’s home was raided, giving no specific information about the explosive used, other than saying that “chemical substances and materials” were found that could have been used in bomb making.

The authorities said the man was known to police for sexual misconduct but not for terrorism.

The failed attack on Tuesday occurred on the eve of a summit meeting in Brussels at which European leaders, including Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President Emmanuel Macron of France, were to discuss military and security issues, among other topics.

Jan Jambon, the Belgian interior minister, said in an interview with VRT News on Wednesday that several homes had been raided overnight.

“The modus operandi of I.S. keeps changing,” he said of the Islamic State. “It’s a game of the poacher and the forest ranger — whenever the forest ranger approaches, the poacher goes elsewhere and finds new ways.”

While he added that it was essential to be vigilant in the face of security threats, he warned against an overreaction. “If you protect yourself everywhere against anything, in the end we will end up in a police state,” he said.

After a national security council meeting, the Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel, said that although there was no indication that another attack was imminent, security would nonetheless be intensified.

Central Station was temporarily closed, but it reopened Wednesday morning, as did the nearby Grand Place, an imposing square and tourist destination that had been partly evacuated after the attack

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A11 of the New York edition with the headline: Station Bombing Renews Focus on Belgium as Jihadist Base. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe